EGRP News Flash - August 31, 2009

Funding Opportunity Announced for the Biology of Estrogen-Receptor Negative Breast Cancer in Various Racial and Ethnic Groups

On behalf of the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Division of Cancer Biology (DCB), the Epidemiology and Genetics Research Program (EGRP) announces a new funding opportunity to promote the systematic study of the biology of ER-negative (ER -) human breast cancers, the characterization of their molecular features, and the signaling pathways and networks that support their growth, as well as to identify differences in the biology of ER-negative breast tumors among racial and ethnic groups.

This funding opportunity solicits applications from collaborative teams of interdisciplinary investigators focused on characterizing the biologic drivers, including genetic, epigenetic, molecular, and cellular factors, of ER-negative human breast cancer development and progression.

Specifically, this initiative will support research projects focused on three main areas (which may be combined):

Identification of the subtypes or heterogeneity that exist within ER-negative breast cancers; and

Determination of whether the biology of ER-negative breast tumors differs among racial and ethnic groups.

To be responsive to this announcement, proposed projects must combine the use of human samples as well as models relevant to human breast cancers.

This funding opportunity will use the NIH U01 cooperative agreement funding mechanism. NCI expects to commit a total of $2 million in FY 2010 for this funding opportunity. Up to three awards are anticipated, depending on the availability of funds and the number of meritorious applications. The requested total cost amount for individual applications may not exceed $667,000 per year. Because the nature and scope of the proposed research will vary from application to application, it is anticipated that the size and duration of each award will also vary. The maximum term of any award will be 5 years.

Letters of Intent are due December 5, and applications are due by January 5, 2010.